Raiders coach Ricky Stuart will consider resting one of his middle forwards against the NZ Warriors on Sunday, paving the way for Sia Soliola's return from a facial injury.
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Stuart has named the same 17 players that flogged St George Illawarra last weekend, but will be tempted to rejig his engine room two weeks out from finals after an exhausting campaign from his big men this season.
Veteran Soliola was cleared last weekend to return from a sickening Le Fort fracture across his face suffered in early July, but instead took on ball boy duties.
The likes of Josh Papalii, Dunamis Lui, Ryan Sutton, Hudson Youing and Joe Tapine have shouldered the load in his absence across a gruelling back half of the season and Soliola's availability gives Stuart a chance to rest one or two of his weary troops.
"We've got a lot of boys that I think need to be rested especially heading towards the finals," Lui said.
"Now having Sia there as well, we can start rotating boys around. He brings a lot of experience to the club, to our team on the weekends.
"It'll be really good to freshen some boys up this week."
Lui started in the front row alongside Papalii against the Dragons on Saturday, the latter shrugging off a shoulder injury suffered a week earlier against the Roosters to play.
Papalii played the first 35 minutes before being rested for the entire second half.
Stuart has made another minor change on the teamsheet this week, with Siliva Havili named to start at hooker with Tom Starling to come from the bench, although whether that's how they run out at Canberra Stadium on Sunday remains to be seen.
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Any doubts over Papalii's shoulder were put to bed in the first half against the Dragons when he ironed out St George Illawarra captain Cameron McInnes with one of the hits of the season.
"The tackle he made on the weekend on McInnes there it just showed that his shoulders were all right," Lui said.
"I actually giggled, everyone got up and jumped and I was like 'Man, everyone's questioning him about his shoulder?'.
"It does build confidence knowing that Paps is gonna run out with us on the weekend and he performed like he always did."
CANBERRA RAIDERS V NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2.00PM, CANBERRA STADIUM
1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Semi Valemei 3. Jarrod Croker (C) 4. Jordan Rapana 5. Nick Cotric 6. Jack Wighton 7. George Williams 8. Josh Papalii 9. Siliva Havili 10. Dunamis Lui 11. John Bateman 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Joe Tapine 14. Tom Starling 15. Ryan Sutton 16. Hudson Young 17. Corey Harawira-Naera 18. Sam Williams 19. Matt Frawley 20. Matt Timoko 21. Sia Soliola
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
